


burned out

by orphan_account



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Stress Relief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-06 10:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20289622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: ryan loves working on buzzfeed unsolved episodes but sometimes the non-stop grind gets a little tiring and it isn’t until others point it out when he realizes that he needs to take a break





	burned out

**Author's Note:**

> hey you!! you reading this!! take a deep breath right now
> 
> you're doing great! if you're stressed right now, i just want to let you know that everything will work out :) enjoy the fic!

Buzzfeed Unsolved was Ryan’s metaphorical baby. He created the series and nurtured it, making sure it got the attention and support it needed to thrive and gain popularity. What started as a simple video project blew up into a sensational series on YouTube that eventually got it’s own channel separate from the Buzzfeed parent channel. But before Ryan had a whole team to work with, he was mainly working solo and had to work incredibly hard to convince people that Buzzfeed Unsolved was worth watching. Like any project, Buzzfeed Unsolved didn’t immediately gain popularity and while Ryan felt slightly discouraged, he didn’t give up and put in more effort, working harder than ever to perfect the series.

His hard work was recognized as more and more internet users stumbled upon his videos and over months and months of producing, writing, and filming episodes of Buzzfeed Unsolved, the series gained popularity and Ryan and Shane started meeting people on the streets who recognized them from their videos. They were also popular because their bantering was often turned into memes (“hey there demons it’s me ya boy” and “I’ve connected the dots”). Buzzfeed Unsolved was so successful, it was made available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Hulu and had its own merchandise.

After ten seasons, Buzzfeed Unsolved grew to the point where there was a relatively large fanbase for the series and while Ryan greatly appreciated the support from the fans, he also felt extremely pressured to keep creating content for the channel. Ever since the fifth season of Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime ended, people had been clogging up the comment section with messages such as “bring the show back!!” and “we need more content now!!”. These comments were encouraging but also made Ryan feel as if he should be working harder to make sure episodes were being put out sooner.

Now that he had a crew to work with when filming and producing Unsolved, Ryan didn’t have to work as hard as he used to but he still pushed himself to work as hard as possible to make good content. Lately, Ryan had been pushing himself a little too hard. All his co-workers started to notice how Ryan would lock himself in a sound booth to pour over hours and hours over audio recordings without stopping to take a break. His absence during lunch was noted and sometimes, he would be the first person to get to the office.

Everybody knew Ryan was a hard worker but he was working to the point where he was burning out. Marielle Scott, Ryan’s girlfriend, noticed that he was staying up later than usual and always asked him if he was fine. Ryan would always respond that he wasn’t that tired and proceed to stay up until 3 in the morning working on scouting through audio files and writing then wake up at 6 and feel like he had gotten run over by a truck. The bags under Ryan’s eyes got worse and Marielle began to worry about Ryan’s well being more and more.

Steven Lim saw Ryan around the office often and sometimes hung out with him on the weekends to play or watch some basketball but lately, Ryan had been too busy with work to make time for himself. Shane Madej was another person on the list of people noticed Ryan’s slow descent into unhealthy work patterns. Whenever Ryan called Shane into the sound booth to listen to some audio clips, Ryan was always holding a cup of coffee and there were always more than three cups of coffee on the desk. While recording, Shane would always notice Ryan yawning and questioned if he was getting enough sleep. Ryan would always insist that he was fine even though he clearly was not and continue to work. Finally, everybody agreed that Ryan needed a break and collectively decided to do something about it.

It was a Friday night and while most people left the office early, eager to dive headfirst into the weekend, Ryan stayed behind, refusing to leave the office until he finished rewriting the script for the episode he was working. He was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t notice what the people around him were doing. At one point, he stood up and left his work to use the bathroom and when he returned, his computer was shut down.

“Don’t worry, I saved your work,” Ryan turned around to see Shane standing next to him, arms crossed. Shane seemed mildly frustrated and a little worried and Ryan cleared his throat.

“I need to get back to work now if you don’t mind,” Ryan started as he sat down in his chair, pressing the power button on his computer. The computer didn’t turn on and Ryan pressed the power button a couple more times, frowning when nothing changed on the screen. Shane sighed exasperatedly and held up the plug to show that he had disconnected the computer. “What are you doing? Why did you unplug my computer?”

“Ryan, you’ve been overworking yourself. You clearly need a break. It’s Friday night and I’m not going to allow you to hole yourself up in the office. I called Marielle to ask her to pick you up and she should be arriving anytime now.” Ryan opened his mouth to protest but Shane continued to talk, knowing that if Ryan got a word in, he would just try to continue to convince Shane that he didn’t need a break. “If you even try to make a move for the computer or try to work during the weekend, you’re immediately going to get shut down by Marielle, Steven, or me. You deserve this weekend off. You’ve been burning yourself out for no reason! You’re way ahead of schedule in terms of writing and you need to take a break. This weekend, you’re banned from even thinking about work, got it?”

Ryan finally understood that he should be taking a break and caved, nodding in agreement. In response, Shane smiled and dropped the computer cord, picking up his phone to check his texts. “Marielle’s already outside. Now, you better enjoy this weekend or you’re going to be in big trouble, mister.”

“Thank you,” Ryan managed and Shane waved a dismissive hand as if to convey that it really was no problem at all. He quickly took his belongings with him as he left the office and met Marielle outside of the office. On that Friday night, instead of trying to perfect the script, Ryan spent the night cuddling with Marielle and sharing a large bowl of delicious popcorn as they watched movies together.

The next morning, he woke up and instinctively reached for his phone to check for any updates from the Buzzfeed Unsolved team about confirmed shooting dates but reminded himself that he was taking this weekend off and shouldn’t worry about work. Marielle had made plans to hang out with her friends on Saturday so Ryan called up Steven and they played some basketball with some other friends and hung out afterward to watch some sports.

By Sunday, Ryan realized how much he had been working by the number of times he had to stop himself from checking his email and decided that on the last day of his weekend, he should spend more time outdoors since he was going to be cooped up in the office for the days following that. So he went on a hike with Marielle and a couple of other friends and admired the view from the mountain that they hiked up to the top of. For the first time in a long time, he felt content and even relaxed. That weekend was the calmest weekend Ryan had since he has been so preoccupied with work.

When he returned to the office on Monday (arriving at a normal time as opposed to the freakishly early time he arrived the past couple of weeks), Ryan was greeted by a smiling Shane. “There he is! How did you enjoy this weekend?”

“It was actually really good! I feel like I finally got a chance to relax and clear my head,” Ryan replied, breaking into a grin.

“Great! Now you know that when you’re burned out, you should take a break. You can get back to work now, you workaholic,” Shane joked and as Ryan sat down at his desk, turned on his computer, and got to work, he was able to work faster and more efficiently than he had been when he was burning himself out. He didn’t want to disappoint people and wanted to work hard to ensure that it wouldn’t happen but Ryan deserved some time for himself and he finally recognized that.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr[@luckysam78](https://luckysam78.tumblr.com/)! my bfu sideblog is [@tinsley-goldsworth](https://tinsley-goldsworth.tumblr.com/)! comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


End file.
